There is a phrase that emanates in my mind when I think about what’s going on in the United States of America today. The phrase is “It’s All About the Benjamins.” For those of you who don’t understand this statement, it basically means it’s all about the money, as the term refers to the United States, $100 bill which features Benjamin Franklin’s image. My comparison is based on what I actually have deduced with this apparent takeover of the United States by rich billionaires.  We are in the midst of a struggle between democracy and oligarchy. The struggle actually began doing the Revolutionary War and it is now coming to a head as middle class America is basically being wiped out the economic mainstream of American Life.

Why is the middle class being wiped out? The middle class is being wiped out because wealthy white people are afraid of what could occur if middle class people continue to close the gap in social and political power and move closer to their level. In other words, the fear of a Communist Revolution which was first planted in the minds of people by conservative politicians during the 50’s and 60’s has contributed to the demise of democracy and the rise of fascism in our country. Now I could get deep on this subject by discussing in detail the fact that the movement to this society of oligarchs actually begin to move forward with intentionality doing the Goldwater campaign of 1964 or I could show how the election of Ronald Reagan solidified forward movement in that ideology because the rich white men funding Ronald Reagan’s campaign had one thing in mind and that was the goal of taking the middle class down a peg or two. In other words, they pushed forward this idea that there was a need to restore social stability while at the same time they pushed legislation through Congress which through reduced taxation increased corporate profitability.  Initially their plan was to go after labor union wages by attacking the unions and to make the cost of higher education so expensive that tuition at colleges and universities across the United States would be hard to afford by the middle class.

During his presidency Reagan cut taxes on rich people and raised taxes on the middle class and he actually did it about 11 times. It was during Reagan’s Administration that an income tax was placed on social security and unemployment payments and then he also put in a mechanism to track and tax tips for the working class people. Up until those changes, those income categories were tax free which definitely assisted in the positive cash flow of middle class families. Reagan also removed our ability to deduct interest from credit cards, car loans and student loans.  All of those deductions were overwhelmingly claimed by the middle class. This was done while he cut the top tax bracket for millionaires and billionaires from 70% to 28% through the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. In the ’80s there were about 500,000 millionaires and 14 billionaires, today according to a recent study in the Knight Frank Wealth Report of 2025, the United States is home to approximately 22 million individuals who can be classified as millionaires. The Institute for Policy Studies reported that as of September, 2024, there were 801 billionaires in the United States, collectively holding wealth totaling $6.22 trillion. It’s obvious to me that a major reason for that type of growth is directly related to tax cuts for the rich. Since the inception of those lower taxes more individuals who are rich have become even richer. I surmise that may be the reason the Trump administration is trying its best to extend the 2017 tax cuts as it soon will expire.

Friends, I’m just a preacher, but I’m not blind! A report from The Congressional Budget Office in 2025 has projected the Interest on the National Debt to exceed $1 trillion by 2026. The White House Office of Management and Budget has calculated for one year the cost for retirement, disability and survivor benefits for tens of millions of Americans to be $1.3 billion while unemployment, SSI, Earn Income Tax Credit and Food Assistance (EBT/SNAP) is projected at $650 billion. Those amounts could be greatly impacted from tax revenues for the $6.22 trillion.

Elon Musk donated over $250 million to Trump’s campaign and now he is in the process of dismantling federal agencies under the guise of cost cutting when his real objective is to find money to cover the tax cuts soon to be given to the rich. All the while, he puts himself in a position to secure additional contacts similar to his bid to take over the FAA’s satellite network.  We are on a path to an authoritarian rule in which a man convicted of 34 felonies is putting rich billionaires in positions of political authority just so they can keep racking in profits. “It’s All About The Benjamins.”

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